Refusing to confirm another Obama appointee is the very least Senator Paul and his colleagues in Washington D.C. can do to serve the interests of their constituents. If Jim Gray can't be bothered to understand the Appointments Clause in the U.S. Constitution, how could Kentuckians expect him to represent any of their individual rights which might be in conflict with his political party's political agenda, such as the Right to Life, the RIght to Bear Arms or the Freedom of Speech?

Friday, March 25, 2016

Gov. Matt Bevin pulled in support from lots of civil libertarians last year by better addressing concerns about government than his opponent did and by remaining silent on goofy, expensive, unfunded "security" mandates which do not make us safer.

Like REAL ID.

The federal unfunded mandate known as REAL ID is a national identification card program mandated by the federal government but mostly ignored by states because it makes no sense. States -- particularly Kentucky -- are not set up to create the massive bureaucracy necessary to put everyone's personal information into a centralized database.

And even if we could, we couldn't afford it. And even if we could afford it, there is no way to demonstrate that it would do anything to keep us safe.

Gov. Bevin has been sucked into repeating the lie that if we don't start implementing REAL ID then Kentuckians won't be able to board an airplane at some point in the future. Right now, the story is that this would happen to all REAL ID-deprived Kentuckians in 2018. Until late last year, the same Department of Homeland Security folks telling us this were saying that we had until December 31, 2015 at which time our outdated drivers licenses wouldn't allow us to fly. Guess what?

The simple fact is that the 2018 deadline will be moved further out sometime next year and they will be telling us we need to sign up for REAL ID quickly or we can't fly in 2020.

Gov. Bevin should stop spreading false information for DHS right away. Some political opponents will criticize him for flip-flopping, but he will be okay if his final position is the right one. We have been through this before.

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Kentucky's House Democrats have now completely cast their lots with ObamaCare and the Medicaid expansion just in time for its decline as predicted by the consulting group they paid hundreds of millions of dollars to tell us how great it was going to be.

Deloitte's pre-ObamaCare study predicted an $864 million positive fiscal impact from the ObamaCare Medicaid expansion through 2020, when the impact would immediately turn negative in need of increasingly greater funds, just like Medicaid has consistently performed throughout its history. The current fiscal year was found to be the high water mark, with the fiscal impact predicted to drop $28 million in the fiscal year starting in July and dropping precipitously thereafter.

"Frankfort Democrats blew the last election lying about the impact of ObamaCare and now they have already fallen on their swords for the upcoming election just to protect the rapidly deteriorating status quo," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

House Speaker Greg Stumbo has a long history of saying ridiculous, patently untrue things in Frankfort. Jaws dropped across the Commonwealth dropped today, though, when Stumbo said ObamaCare premiums have "stabilized" in Kentucky.

But the best part came when former Democrat and current Republican Rep. Jim Gooch called him out on his lie.

Are any media types watching this willing to report the truth here?

"Kentuckians have been crushed by wild premium increases, obscene service failures and official lies under ObamaCare in general and Kynect in our state, but all we can shut down here and right now is Kynect," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "We won't fail to do that."

House Speaker Greg Stumbo's HB 1 mandates full funding of the Kentucky teachers retirement system by pretending that money to pay the requirement exists. It doesn't.

"Stumbo's fake teachers retirement bill fits Kentucky like a cheap suit and should fool no one who can do basic math," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Kentucky teachers who aren't blind Democrats should be the angriest people in America after Stumbo has shown he thinks of them only as brainless political pawns."

Monday, March 21, 2016

Former Governor Steve Beshear's Save Kentucky Healthcare online petition has gained fewer than 150 names from all over the world in the last two weeks. The only people who will miss ObamaCare in Kentucky when its bogus Frankfort bureaucracy is gone is Frankfort Obamacrats.

Beshear, Stumbo, Grimes and all the rest should admit now that the 2015 Kentucky Lie of the Year was a lie and that they are the only ones who stand to lose when Kynect is shut down later this year.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

In the last week before the 2015 election, outgoing Gov. Steve Beshear gave voice to Frankfort Democrats' belief that 500,000 angry ObamaCare recipients would storm the polls and give Jack Conway the Governor's Mansion.

By now we all know that didn't work out for them.

Frankfort Democrats continue to delude themselves about ObamaCare's efficacy and popularity and just today probably lost their House majority in the upcoming November elections with their overzealous cheerleading.

House Democrats voted for House Bill 5 today, to require state taxpayers to continue funding Steve Beshear's expensive, failed Kynect ObamaCare exchange despite our just electing a new governor on his promise to get rid of it.

"Kentucky's House Democrats can't stop misreading the causes of the ObamaCare disaster or the political fallout from this mess," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "Their Republican opponents will do well this fall to remind voters in districts across the state about Obamacrats' continued politicization of the federal takeover of Americans' healthcare."

Thursday, March 10, 2016

If you were a new Republican governor in Kentucky surrounded by a hostile opposition party and media eager to distort your message and stifle your efforts, what would you do? If you are Matt Bevin, you might make a video shining light on your message in a way that will cause your opponents to expose themselves as really not doing their jobs.

That's what Gov. Bevin did Monday.

His Facebook video has attracted nearly a million views as well as widespread media attention, mostly because he taped his comments in Frankfort's empty House chamber on Monday morning to complain about House Democrats dragging their feet on the budget. Democrat and media criticism has focused on the fact the House of Representatives' daily session does not convene on Mondays until 4:00 pm.

All this turned a white hot spotlight on Bevin so he could again point out the dire fiscal circumstances he inherited from Gov. Steve Beshear and the need for action from hesitant Frankfort Democrats.

It was a shrewd ploy that is working to keep attention on the need to reduce Frankfort spending. House Speaker Greg Stumbo and friends are stuck harrumphing around acting like the Governor can't tell time and he is getting needed attention to the fact that real time is wasting on real issues while the other side is playing politics as usual.

Wednesday, March 09, 2016

When ObamaCare was being written, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley was seen frequently working with Democrats crafting the bill. What resulted was a small provision in the final product which could now be used to neuter the entire federal takeover of healthcare.

Grassley inserted into ObamaCare a religious health sharing exemption to the "Affordable Care Act's" mandates and restrictions against Americans' ability to manage the purchase of healthcare services sensibly. The best thing about the exemption is that it forced the federal government to leave alone three small groups of Christians in existing health sharing groups who collectively set aside a few dollars each month to spent only on medical needs of people in their group. It's real health insurance as it was intended to be, which avoids the term "insurance" merely because preexisting regulations prohibited it. Of course, it's significantly cheaper and more effective than ObamaCare coverage.

The worst thing about Christian health sharing is also where the greatest opportunity lies. That is, if you aren't an active Christian, you don't qualify.

Christian health sharing has seen significant growth among healthcare consumers desperate to escape skyrocketing premiums, narrow and unpredictable provider networks and imploding government-created insurers. But for the huge segment of the American population which does not attend a Christian church regularly, the exemption has no value.

If you would like to gain exemption from ObamaCare but don't regularly attend a Christian church -- or just know someone who fits this description -- please ask Congressmen Thomas Massie and Andy Barr to work together to amend ObamaCare to allow for the creation of non-religious health sharing groups without ObamaCare mandates, designed merely to cover real medical needs of members and not some politician's idea of worthy social engineering.

Obamacrats would be horrified by accurate claims that they supported special treatment for Christians but are now standing in the way of equal health freedom for non-Christians. Such a bill would surely sail through Congress with veto-proof majorities and then everyone would have the ability to avoid ObamaCare.

Amid the decidedly unconvincing fanfare back in the early afternoon of February 11, Beshear claimed to have picked up a quick 2500 names on the online petition in support of his ridiculously named "Save Kentucky Healthcare" web site. The funny thing is that a month later the petition's counter says there are 11,221 names right above a convenient form for followers to add their name to the list by divulging email address, street address and selecting their country of residence from a drop-down menu which defaults to the United States but includes such Obamacrat hotspots as Azerbaijan, Djibouti and Tunisia.

The lack of energy evident in Beshear's search of Planet Earth for a few remaining ObamaCare believers would make big news in an age of less leftward media bias.

Kentucky's House budget committee takes up HB 278 this morning, which would increase the minimum wage in Kentucky to $10.10 by July 1, 2018.

"This minimum wage tax increase hits consumers where it hurts by necessitating higher prices and is further evidence of the fact state government bureaucrats have no business trying to manage our economy," Kentucky Progress publisher David Adams said. "It's just more redistribution games from people who can't accept that the best thing for them to do is get out of the way."

Saturday, March 05, 2016

While other Republicans set about casting votes for president today, former Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson took to Facebook to complain bitterly about heavy traffic at the polling location in his home Boone County.

"I am going to miss UK Senior game festivities and the opening tip because of the poor planning by the Boone County GOP in implementing this caucus," Grayson posted.

The really stupid thing about this is Grayson should have known that the caucus was squeezing 62 precincts of Boone County Republicans into one polling place today and if he had only planned ahead he would have had plenty of time to vote and get to all his "festivities."

Grayson's time working at Harvard after losing to Rand Paul in 2010 certainly didn't make him any smarter and -- if possible -- seems to have made him an even bigger crybaby than he was then. Grayson lost every single Boone County precinct in his U.S. Senate bid.

Wednesday, March 02, 2016

Whether you like Donald Trump or not, it seems clear his appeal is rooted in a belief that he will make things better in America by force. After eight years of Americans being forced to accept a radical dumbing down of public education, massive redistribution of resources through taxation and excessive accumulation of federal debt, a hostile takeover of the healthcare system and foreign policy disasters rammed down our throats in the name of keeping us "safe," can it surprise anyone that the most political energy in America now is coalescing around a figure who wants to "Make America Great Again" by running roughshod over critics, doubters and opponents?

Republican establishmentarians deserve blame for feathering their own nests at the expense of effectively combating Obama in the marketplace of ideas and allowing authoritarianism to flourish, but it's the same failed urge for a shortcut that inspired millions to welcome "Hope and Change" by any means necessary which now seems to generate no curiosity about how exactly we are going to make things "Great."

Trump's primary opponents have failed to pin Trump down with the simple question: How? Hillary Clinton made the same mistake in 2008. Don't expect her to repeat that failure.

America desperately needs a president who will voluntarily limit the power of his or her office to its constitutional boundaries and fight to end government's fantasies about managing our economy whether through currency manipulation, industry regulation or subsidization. America desperately needs a president who will champion state and local experimentation with education policy and social welfare. America desperately needs a president who understands national defense doesn't begin with groping grandmothers in airports and doesn't end with bombing people who fire back missiles purchased by proceeds from our own multi-billion dollar aid checks.